A "STONE" is a family word for a personal story or thought, not quite an essay or short story. Lake living w/5 wirehair dachshunds & my wife by retired H.S. band director - better description to follow... and lots of just nonsense thoughts unrelated to each other

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Monday, September 15, 2014

buzzard bait

SoSoSoY'know, when I was in H.S. English class writing papers, one of the big things the teacher fussed about using the two words: And, so.... She counted off extra points if we used "And, so" anytime. Thus, I learned to type "thus." And "Therefore." /And, so, I tell this tale..Last Friday, the wife and I decided to go the RV Supershow in Dallas. Friday had special rates for Seniors. (Notice that I capitalize Seniors). We took our own sweet time leaving - maybe getting out of here about 9 or 9:30..To get to our house one has to drive down a two lane highway which eventually connects with another U.S. hwy. It takes maybe 10 minutes to get to town. I try to drive the speed limit plus a dab..We took off. I was driving about 60. All of a sudden off the road from the left, movement. It was a big bird - a red headed vulture . . . perhaps the term Buzzard would fit. From the left, the bird flew across the highway. Normally, these big birds gain some height. He certainly was trying..I hit my brakes as hard as I could. It did not good. The bird bounced off the front of my FLEX. It rolled under the car and I could see it lying on the road behind. Yes, it was a hit and run. I felt really bad that I had not anticipated the bird faster. Wham! One dead bird. One big dead bird..It damaged my car. The hood has a dent larger than I would have thought possible by a bird. The dent was the size of a large plate right on top of my hood. Today I visited my insurance agent followed by a trip by a body shop. The guy prodded the hood. He said it was aluminum and would have to be completely replaced..I will be getting a new hood on my car plus a major strip of trim across the front. In a half thrown out thought, the car received the nickname: Buzzard Bait. I think I will change it back to Ruby or Flex when the repairs are done. With that I will leave ya. I am anxious to see how this all works out. No, wait, there is more..We drove to Dallas and made a side trip to Mesquite to visit Garden Ridge. After a quick lunch, we headed down I-30 through Dallas to make the turn up I-35. If you have not driven this stretch, it gets pretty fast and busy with lots and lots of idiots weaving in and out of traffic. I stayed in the right lane hoping and praying the I-35 exit would get closer..Right in the middle of this with about 2 or so miles to go, my FLEX made a dinging noise. A message flashed across the screen: Tires low pressure. Yes, with no way to get off the road and traffic roaring forth, Low Pressure on the Tires. This is a new invention on my cars. A device that measures air pressure as I drive. That is such a great bit. BUT NOT ON I-30 at 60 mph with no room on either side and a big white truck entering the highway..All turned out okay. We made it to the show. I carry an air compressor in the car. All the tires looked low - these low profile tires are deceiving. I put the air comp. on one tire and let it run. The air went down instead of up. I stopped that game. When we left, my right rear tire ran on 25 lbs, the left rear on 27 lbs. We drove to Ennis' Walmart, bought a new machine and fixed the tires. No gas station from here to Dallas has an air compressor. .Moral of stone: buy an air compressor and keep it in your car. You never know when the dash will light up and say. "Low Pressure."m3

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About Me

Retired Texas H.S. band director, spend my time here on the lake with my wife & 5 wirehair dachshunds. As an added bit, a "STONE" is a story. It is more of a short bit. Will add more later when I figure this all out. CORSICANA SWING ORCHESTRA MEMBER
Contact Jerry Ballew 903-390-1058 to get info